Paying too much - break rental agreement?

[jakc]

Im paying 380pw for a 2br house in Brunswick.
Its a nice house, has small garden, garage but not too large.
I arrived back in Feb and offereed 380pw (advertised as 350pw) as was getting knocked back on all other properties (think cos references were all English).

I can pay the rent fine, but the two identical units, I know that they are paying significantly less than me.

I know I signed up for this, but been thinking that perhaps I should look for a better value place to rent. I did ask the estate agent about this when signing up the contract and think they mentioned that I may lose my deposit as they would have to incur the cost of finding other tenants (fair enough). However need to talk to them about if I can find other tenants (through sites like gumtree and perhaps even this one) if I would then be able to keep most of my deposit.

I guess im just wondering on other peoples thoughts, if other people have broken contracts, if the renting situation is still in high demand, etc etc

[gary12]

jakc
we are in the process of doing just the same (we are paying $650 per week) Like you we can manage it but we know that there is better value to be had. The main reason we are leaving is that we are in a high risk bushfire area (surrounded by the ruddy stuff) when we asked the homeowner they said they never get fires in this area.... pants on fire! (when you have just arrived and shell shocked you trust people).

Anyway, we have been told that we have to pay the re advertising costs of $150 and the letting agent fee of 3% of the annual rent pro rata (ie we will have 5 months to pay) and the fees for the new tennants. One thing we have been told though is that if someone comes in for your say £350 a week you would have to make up the difference of the extra $30 per week. So it is essential that you get someone in to cover the rent you have been paying. We will get our deposit back providing we left it in the state in which it was found which is not a problem.

We have started to look again and for our area at least demand is high, we viewed one property with 6 couples all applying another with 3 and so on.

Best of luck

Michelle

[tracy123]

How long have you got to go on your rental agreement? Lets face it they are not going to look very hard to find someone else while you are paying over the odds for your rent are they? I'd be asking for a drop in rent if you are happy with the house, I can't see how they can take your bond if they find another tenent, re read your contract or ask for a copy of the orginal contract if you don't have it. If youre un-happy with what they say ask them for the ombudsman number as you feel that they have taken avantage of you being a new immigrant to Australia. That might scare them into helping you

Good luck

Geoffrey

[Eera]

It's tricky as you did make the offer initially.

In a tight rental situation you really need to make sure you aren't going to get a black mark on your rental history as you'll be hard pushed to find anyone willing to let you rent after that. Is it really worth taking that risk?

You should have been given a copy of the Residential Tenancies Act when you signed the lease, all your rights and recourses of action are in it.

I have two rentals, and with the market being like it is, I won't accept anyone without an immaculate rental history. Contract breaking is an almighty pain in the backside, I would rather (and have) dropped rent to keep a good tenant.